Professional Documents
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Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations
Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations
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International and Comparative Industrial Relations
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Board Representation
German law mandates employee representation on supervisory boards The number of representatives varies by the size of the firm and industry, with special provisions for coal and steel industries German firms have a two-tiered board structure - The supervisory board (Aufsichtsrat) is the higher ranked board It has the responsibility to control managerial performance and appoint top managers - The lower managing board (Vorstund) runs the firm on a day-today basis - Employee representatives to the supervisory board are elected proportionately from the blue and white collar workforce The law reserves two or three seats for unions
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Work Councils
Work councils are the second major component of the German codetermination structure Mandated by law for private firms with five or more employees Work councils have rights to information, consultation, and codetermination The law requires negotiation with work councils for major operational changes Works councilors are elected by all employees in a firm regardless of union affiliation Works councilors cannot call a strike, but can sue management in case of a breach of contractual rights
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Multinational Unionism
- In the United States at the start of the 20th century, unions expanded their jurisdiction by shifting from local or regional to national unions - Globalization has created strong incentives for unions to expand beyond their boundaries But this has been infrequent - The Difficulties Unions Face Diversity, law and culture also make it difficult for unions to expand their reach Diversity also reduces group cohesion Workers in low wage countries may not support demands for higher wages for their global brethren Communications are difficult, and mergers are immensely complex
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The global expansion of trade is leading unions to communicate more extensively with unions in other countries
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Goals of Integration
Eliminate trade barriers in the 25 member countries
- The number rose to 27 in 2007 with the entry of Romania and Bulgaria
Allow free movement of workers, products, and investments across national borders Labor relations are to be harmonized A single currency in most states
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- At the same time, raising the standards of low wage countries could help unions
Even the U.K. unions want integration, to meet German standards of representation
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Summary
- There are substantial differences in industrial relations in the industrialized countries
In the U.S., collective bargaining is highly decentralized; written contracts and grievance procedures are important In Germany, codetermination provides workers with parallel representation from unions and work councils In Japan, enterprise unions are dominant and represent both white and blue collar workers - Disputes are settled and information exchanged through a variety of consultative procedures - Annual bonuses are an important part of compensation - There is now a trend to decentralization